Friday, February 21, 2014

Letter to Listeners: The State of WBAI

LETTER TO LISTENERSFebruary 21, 2014

Over the past
sixteen months, the WBAI community has had more than its fair share of
turmoil: one hurricane, two temporary studios, one temporary office,
three moves, nineteen layoffs and two program directors. All of this
tumult has been disconcerting, even scary. You can hear the gloom in the
voices of some of our producers. Naysayers abound, but there are also
many dedicated people working hard to solve longstanding problems, and
we are on track to make a dramatic recovery.

BAI BUDDIES

The Buddy
program-has been wonderful for WBAI. When listeners automatically give
us a certain amount each month, we have at least one predictable income
stream. This is precious, financially and as encouragement to everyone
who works at the station. I want to thank all of you who have signed up
and make sure you know how important you are. Some BAI Buddies have not
yet received their cards and tote-bags. There is no excuse for this
(other than the fact that we don't have the staff to do it). I promise
that you will receive them by the end of February.

GARY NULL

Gary Null is
back on the air at his usual time from noon to 1, Monday through Friday.
His two-week absence was extremely unfortunate, but Gary's loyal
listeners can be assured that his popular program will continue to be
broadcast on our airwaves.

FUNDRAISING

We tried a new
approach, "the program is the premium," but it was unsuccessful. This
concept does not work for most public radio stations, and it did not
work for us. We basically jettisoned overnight the model that had kept
us going for 60 years. Of course we all want to get away from WBAI's
undue reliance on premiums. Diversifying revenue streams is a high
priority, and there is a team working on a plan to increase the share of
funds raised online, in the community, and via traditional non-profit
strategies. This plan includes a carefully timed transition, steadily
reducing on-air fund-drives as the new revenue sources emerge and
stabilize. In the process of transitioning to new revenue streams, we
will need to experiment, and the recent effort did provide some lessons
learned. But the tuition for those lessons was exorbitant: The first two
weeks of February set us back a quarter of a million dollars (we
usually raise at least $18,000 a day), and we are now in crisis mode.
Bills are overdue. Payroll is looming.

THE FINANCIAL SITUATION

While the
situation is extremely precarious, it is nowhere near as grim as it was a
year ago or even six months ago. Don't forget that last February we
were still reeling from Superstorm Sandy: we owed $250,000 on the
transmitter and another $150,000 for office rent. Month after month WBAI
depended on Pacifica to help with payroll and other expenses (which is
one reason why Pacifica no longer has any cash reserves with which to
help us or any of the other stations in the network).

We had no
choice but to slash costs: we moved to Brooklyn and laid off
three-quarters of the staff. The situation only started to turn around
in October, when we had a very successful fund-drive that generated
nearly $850,000, almost $200,000 more than the $650,000 target. Most of
the extra revenue went to pay back debts to Pacifica and Silverstein
Properties (we made our final rent payment for our former offices), as
well as to purchase more premiums. And, although we had to add a few
days, our December fund-drive also exceeded its target.

Because we
have drastically cut costs and enjoyed two successful fund-drives, the
Pacifica National Board voted earlier this month to give WBAI two more
months before considering any of the LMAs (proposals to give up control
of our programing through leasing arrangements). We have sixty days to
prove to Pacifica that we can be financially self-sufficient.

With a
successful fund-drive this month, we can continue to break even over the
next quarter. Of course, we have to do better than break even, but our
current and very realistic goal is to cover our monthly expenses, raise
about $35,000 to build a studio at our Brooklyn location, and organize a
big fundraiser to pay the severance we owe our laid-off employees.

PREMIUMS

Too many
listeners have still not received their premiums, but there are a lot
fewer than there were two months ago. Volunteers have been churning them
out as fast as they can. How did we get so far behind, you might ask.
After the hurricane we worked out of temporary offices for seven months
with our equipment, supplies and premiums scattered in various storage
units around the city, not sure where we would be month-to-month. But we
dug ourselves out of that hole and by mid-summer moved to Brooklyn.
Then, just as we were looking forward to settling down and catching up,
WHAM, we had to lay off nineteen employees including most of the
administrative staff. Since then, other than the brief stints with the
two programming directors, we have had only TWO (including me) paid
employees working full-time at the office. No regular company could lay
off most of its staff and survive, but at WBAI, interns and volunteers
have picked up the slack.

As General
Manager, premiums were my responsibility, but I could not figure out a
way to do my job, the jobs of all the people who were laid off AND
recruit and organize volunteers to get out the premiums. I just couldn't
do it. As a result, we have a backlog of e-mail and voice messages
from people upset about not receiving their premiums.

WBAI is very
fortunate to have top-notch interns and volunteers. For three months
now, they have been coming every Sunday to help pack and ship premiums.
But this is still not enough. So beginning next week, we are going into
full-time Listener-Service Mode. Starting Monday, our Brooklyn office
will be set up to accommodate at least eight volunteers at a time. We
will contact every listener who has had a premium problem and resolve
it. We will call every WBAI Buddy. Our goal is to fix all of these
problems by the first day of spring on March 20. We are determined to
regain the trust of our listeners.

By the way, if
you have a premium problem, you can contact us via email or phone. We
prefer emails so that we can look up your record before calling you
back, but you are also welcome to call. The email address is premiums@wbai.org. The phone number dedicated to premiums is (347) 529-6664.

VOLUNTEERS

The crisis at
WBAI has had a wonderful consequence: we are creating a real community
among the listeners who volunteer regularly. Imagine that! You can help
WBAI get out premiums and make genuine new friends at the same time. If
you have time, send a message with your contact information to: volunteers@wbai.org. It's time to turn all this theory into practice. Besides, working and talking with other listeners can be interesting and fun.

TAX FORMS

This is yet
another problem for which I must ask your understanding. You need this
document to get credit for your generous donations and file your tax
returns, and we will get it to you by February 26.

FINALLY

The
gloom-and-doom crowd-those who claim that any optimism is just wishful
thinking-do not know what is really going on. Yes, we still have many
problems, but there is also a solid basis for hope.

We could not
have survived all the turmoil without our dedicated staff, producers and
volunteers. But, most of all, it is you listeners who have inspired us
to carry on despite all the obstacles and naysayers. I am deeply
grateful to you, especially to the many people who contacted us this
year to wish us well when the situation was most treacherous. Your
encouragement was essential.

The last two
weeks were especially rough, and we need to catch up quickly. But we can
do it. Breaking even for two consecutive quarters will give us all
renewed hope and confidence. Our foundation is much stronger, but our
position is still precarious. Give us another chance, and we will put
the community back in community radio.

Once we have
stabilized our finances and built our studio in Brooklyn, we will have
consolidated operations in one affordable place. That will made a huge
difference. We are already exploring options for the popular call-in
shows, as well as innovative ways to cover local news. And we want your
input. Sometime soon you will be receiving with the newsletter a survey
asking for your opinions about all of this.

Please Support Andrea Sears' Reporting

Unemployment insurance is running out for Andrea Sears of Left Voices, former WBAI/Pacifica News Editor, who was part of the WBAI staff layoffs last August. Despite some promising interviews, Andrea does not have a job yet, and would really appreciate your support.